A former All Black turned firefighter has hit out at Fire and Emergency New Zealand over its ageing fleet.
Ten-test All Blacks halfback Steve Devine has accused Fire and Emergency of relaying incorrect information over the number of trucks that have broken down to Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour.
Devine took to social media on Monday, inviting Act leader Seymour “anywhere around the country” to show him a fire truck that had broken down in the past few years.
The video was in response to statements Seymour made during Question Time in Parliament last month, claiming there had been only one truck breakdown that delayed getting to a fire in the previous “several months”.
“I’ve been advised that, for example, there has only been one recent breakdown that led to a two-minute delay in getting to a fire. That’s in the past several months, at least. So, I think the characterisation of routine breakdowns and danger is simply not sustainable,” Seymour said.
Speaking to the Herald, Devine – who has been a career firefighter for 14 years – said he’d been “pretty angry and frustrated for a long time”.
“I got really angry and frustrated when David Seymour in the house said that only one firetruck had broken down, which was just a blatant lie ... I knew there was a pretty good chance it wasn’t David who was lying and that he’d probably been given some information.”
Seymour made contact with the former All Black after the video was posted and explained that he was provided with incorrect information about the fleet.
“Our fleet is horrific, and I just don’t know why someone at Fire and Emergency would lie to a member of parliament about just how horrific it is,” Devine said.
In a statement to the Herald, Seymour - filling in for Brooke van Velden as Workplace Relations and Safety Minister - said he answered questions in Parliament on October 23 “based on a briefing from Fire and Emergency NZ”.
“They got one fact wrong and have apologised for the miscommunication.”
Seymour confirmed the incorrect information relayed was about the number of fire truck breakdowns. He later withdrew the statement in Parliament, but could not confirm an accurate statistic.
Fire and Emergency did not respond to queries from the Herald about incorrect information being provided to Seymour.
The Herald understands Seymour met with Devine on Friday morning to discuss ongoing issues with the fleet, among other concerns firefighters have with the organisation.
The New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union reported on its social media that five separate appliances encountered issues on Wednesday alone – one in Christchurch, Hamilton and Gisborne, and two in New Plymouth.
“We serve our community. We turn up when people are having a pretty bad day most of the time and try and make things better ... It’s really difficult to turn up in those really bad situations when you have machinery that doesn’t work,” Devine said.
“Someone’s going to die. We’re going to lose a fireman in the state of these fire trucks and I’m just fingers crossed every fire, that doesn’t happen ... We lost people at the Loafers Lodge fire in Wellington two years ago because a fire truck that should have been there wasn’t there, and it had been broken for a year.
“That should never happen in an emergency service. We’ve been screaming out for years and years for help, particularly around the fire trucks, particularly around our fire stations, and particularly around our mental health.”
A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said the organisation was currently in planned bargaining with the NZPFU and it was “extremely important” both parties were bargaining in good faith.
“Accuracy in these times of high emotion is important, and we’d like, as we have before, to clear up the claims made on Monday morning.”
It said in 2017, the organisation inherited an ageing fleet from more than 40 firefighting organisations - and would take “significant investment and time” to improve and replenish the main assets.
“Fire and Emergency’s trucks are well maintained, safe, certified, and legally compliant, and they have a robust servicing programme of planned maintenance and repairs.
“However, in a fleet of around 1300 trucks, we expect there’ll be times when trucks need unplanned repairs. We have service providers right across the country that maintain our fleet to a high standard and make repairs as needed.”
It said a long-term investment plan is being implemented to replace trucks, as well as investing in maintenance and repairs.
“We are currently spending over $20 million per year on replacement trucks ... The community can be assured Fire and Emergency will continue to respond to emergencies as always.”
Devine said the public and communities that firefighters serve and protect “deserve the truth”.
“As a government organisation, I think the people running it should be held to account for telling the truth.
“I cross my fingers every day when we hear there’s a fire on the radio that someone doesn’t go in there, the hose or the pump fails, the truck breaks down, and someone gets burnt or seriously hurt. I stress and worry about that every single day.”
Devine reached out to Fire and Emergency personally but said he had not received a response.
The spat comes as Fire and Emergency is considering cutting jobs and “stopping or slowing” activities in a bid to save $50 million a year, RNZ reports.
RNZ said an email and internal document sent to staff by Fire and Emergency chief executive Kerry Gregory last week emphasised a new “significant” drive to be more efficient.
“We can’t keep doing everything for everybody and that’s not a bad thing,” Gregory wrote in the email.
A proposed restructuring would involve “the disestablishment and establishment” of positions, he said.
It’s understood the proposal will be sent to staff across the organisation next week.
“What we can say at this stage is that frontline firefighters and ComCen call takers will not be losing their jobs and we will not be restricting what we are responding to as part of this change proposal,” Fire and Emergency told RNZ.
Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking news.